Data Center: Page

How to change an ESXi password for vCenter

A forgotten ESXi root password can stop you in your tracks. Avoid dodgy quick fixes and learn the proper way to recover a root password for vCenter-connected and stand-alone hosts.

By Stuart Burns • Oct. 25, 2017

How do you use VMware ESXi logs to troubleshoot your host?

With access to logs, you can troubleshoot your ESXi host and track issues as they crop up. You can access your logs via the console or a web browser with only a few simple steps.

By Vladan Seget • Oct. 24, 2017

Add a host to a VMware cluster by following these tips

Grouping physical hosts together on a cluster improves resource distribution and increases availability. It's easy to add a host to a cluster, but be sure to follow these rules.

By Vladan Seget • Oct. 13, 2017

With Btrfs file system gone in RHEL 8, look at alternatives

In the XFS, Ext4, Btrfs and ZFS comparison, Linux users will say goodbye to Btrfs in RHEL 8. Learn more about your options and what can fill the gaps once development halts.

By Sander van Vugt • Oct. 11, 2017

How to choose a live kernel patching extension

Ksplice and kpatch offer similar live kernel patching services on a Linux system, but differences between function-level services and technical support showcase their differences.

By Sander van Vugt • Oct. 2, 2017

What happens when you violate affinity or anti-affinity rules?

Just because VM placement is flexible doesn't mean you should take it for granted. Affinity rule conflicts can take a serious toll on the functionality of multiple VMware platforms.

By Stephen Bigelow • Sept. 25, 2017

What are VM-VM and VM-host affinity and anti-affinity rules?

It's important to create specific rules in VMware DRS to outline how different VMs and hosts behave. What kinds of affinity and anti-affinity rules are there, and how do they work?

By Stephen Bigelow • Sept. 11, 2017

Install Ubuntu Core successfully with these steps

An Ubuntu Core installation can often prove tricky for IT teams. Use these step-by-step instructions to properly install the platform for a more secure Docker environment.

By Jack Wallen • Sept. 6, 2017

How can a VM storage policy improve vSAN cluster redundancy?

FTT dictates how many failures can occur in a vSAN cluster without sacrificing availability. How can you use a VM storage policy to define the amount of Failures To Tolerate?

By Vladan Seget • Aug. 24, 2017

The mainframe environment: A thing of the past or the future?

It made its name in a long-ago era, but even in the time of virtualization and cloud computing, the mainframe hasn't disappeared yet. The IBM z14 aims to keep it that way.

By Ed Scannell • Aug. 16, 2017

Uptime Institute tier classification system faces new rivals

Because the Uptime Institute focuses primarily on power and cooling, alternative data center certifications have emerged. Their chances of replacing Uptime, however, seem slim.

By Robert McFarlane • Aug. 16, 2017

How do you manually download VMware Tools ISO images?

VMware Tools optimizes VMs within a vSphere infrastructure. Although it's typically bundled with ESXi hosts, you can also manually install VMware Tools via an ISO image.

By Vladan Seget • Aug. 8, 2017

What is Photon OS, and why would I use it in my data center?

Due to its scalability, low cost and fast deployment, container technology is on the rise. How does VMware harness the power of containers in a vSphere environment?

By Stephen Bigelow • Aug. 4, 2017

IBM Strategic Imperatives mark a transition into software and services

IBM's Strategic Imperatives are slowly morphing the server hardware stalwart into a software and services company. But IBM still needs hardware to complete the transformation.

By Ed Scannell • July 26, 2017

How do deduplication and compression compare to RAID erasure coding?

RAID 5 and RAID 6 erasure coding, deduplication and compression are similar but distinct concepts that reduce data and maintain storage capacity in virtualized environments.

By Stephen Bigelow • July 25, 2017

Use the Rufus utility to create a bootable VMware ESXi installer

Rufus -- short for Reliable USB Formatting Utility -- is a free Windows tool that can create a bootable VMware ESXi installer and a custom installation package in mere minutes.

By Vladan Seget • July 24, 2017

Use SIOC to create and apply IOPS limits and storage policies

VMware Storage I/O Control uses vSphere APIs for I/O Filtering to quickly establish and apply IOPS limits to VMs that regularly access your data store.

By Vladan Seget • June 21, 2017

Follow these steps to assign vSphere permissions and roles

Admins can use vSphere permissions to assign VM controls to different IT groups within their enterprise. Follow the networking example below to get started.

By Alastair Cooke • June 21, 2017

Integrate Ceph object storage in a VMware vSphere environment

It can be challenging to integrate Ceph in a VMware environment, but with the right interface, vSphere administrators can reap the rewards of object storage.

By Sander van Vugt • June 16, 2017

Reference architecture vs. converged infrastructure: Know the difference

The terms converged infrastructure and reference architecture frequently appear together, but they're not interchangeable. One is the blueprint and the other is a structure.

By Robert Sheldon • June 13, 2017

VSAN Encryption: What it is, what it does and how to use it

New to vSphere 6.6, vSAN Encryption uses an XTS AES-256 cipher to encrypt all objects in the vSAN data store across both all-flash and hybrid configurations.

By Anthony Poh • June 9, 2017

How does VMware secure boot protect VMs and ESXi hosts?

New to vSphere 6.5, the secure boot feature protects VMs and ESXi hosts from viruses, malware and spyware -- and enabling it is as easy as checking off a box.

By Vladan Seget • June 7, 2017

Seven hyper-converged software options for DIY HCI

If your company already has hardware that you want to turn into a hyper-converged infrastructure stack, you can do it with one of these software-only options.

By Alastair Cooke • June 5, 2017

What issues can storage I/O control present in vSphere?

Storage I/O control can be an effective way to handle occasional storage sharing issues, but it is not always suitable for every virtual machine.

By Stephen Bigelow • May 20, 2017

Integrate vRealize Log Insight and NSX for centralized logging

VMware added vRealize Log Insight NSX in version 6.2.3. This central logging system receives log entries from ESXi hosts and helps identify issues in your NSX deployment.

By Rob Bastiaansen • May 5, 2017